Escape
by Fan of the Bible
Summary: Jumping off the back of that ship seemed like a great idea, at the time. It would have been, if it wasn't for that third-class man determined to stop me. It didn't quite turn out that way and we both ended up somewhere very unexpected...
1. Chapter 1

"_I saw my whole life as if I'd already lived it, an endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches. Always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back, no one who cared… or even noticed."_

"I'm not feeling well, Mother," I said weakly. Indeed, I was not.

Mother frowned slightly suspiciously, but on noticing how pale I was, she let it pass. "Do you need someone to escort you back to the suite?" She asked, looking pointedly at Cal.

"No," I said, shuddering inwardly at the thought. "No, I can manage on my own."

Mother thought this over for a small moment before nodding.

I excused myself from the table, collecting my thoughts as I exited the room. I hated all of this. Every dinner we went to, every tea, every lunch, every breakfast, every event killed me a little more. I couldn't take it anymore! I could not deal with this for the rest of my life, being stuck on the arm of the man I secretly despised- Cal.

As I envisioned that, watching myself growing old and dying with him, the unshed tears of the past few weeks finally spilled over. I continued walking as I sobbed, ignoring the somewhat concerned faces of fellow first class members. My pace quickened as my thoughts grew more and more desperate, until my walk became a sprinting run and I shoved people out of the way.

I ripped the clips from my hair. Now free, it whipped around my head, as unhappy as I was. The men and women that I pushed past looked scandalized, but I was far from caring… My decision was made. I would end it all tonight.

I continued running until I reached the stern. I felt what little blood was left in my face leave quickly at that point as I watched the waves behind the ship jump about. I couldn't back out now, though, and succumb to that life.

I put my hands on the railing, slowly stepping up then transferring my hands to a rope that was attached to a large pole next to me. I went on climbing, swinging my leg over and untangling a part of my dress from my foot. I continued down now, taking one last long glance at the ship behind me before turning around and looking down at the churning waters. I felt a slight fear in my chest, but it was nothing compared to the fear of going back. I took a moment to extend my arms, mentally preparing myself to cut my life short. My breathing turned to hyperventilating, but I was now ready.

"Don't do it!" The voice from behind startled me into turning around. I hadn't seen anyone else on this part of the ship.

"Stay back," I warned, my voice revealing my true fear more than I would have liked. "Don't come any closer!"

Against my wishes, the poorly dressed man began approaching me, extending his hand. "Just give me your hand; I'll pull you back over."

"No!" I protested. "Stay where you are! I mean it- I'll let go!" As I said the last part, I turned back away from him, proving my unwillingness to be swayed otherwise. I glanced back at him to make sure that he was following my instructions.

He was- for the moment. He took his cigarette from his mouth and mimed that he wanted to throw it over board to get rid of it then stepped forward to do so. After the little white stick soared into the water, the man took another few steps forward. "No, you won't," he insisted.

That made my blood boil. Who was he to tell me that? How did he know the troubles of my life, the terrible bonds and expectations the society I was in put on me? "What do you mean, no, I won't?" I snapped furiously. "Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do, you don't know me!"

"Well, you would've done it already!" He said in a tone that implied he was pointing out the obvious.

I bristled. Maybe he would've, but some of us preferred to take a little bit more time and not rush into things! "You're distracting me. Go away!" I commanded in as forceful a tone as I could manage.

"I can't," he said. "I'm involved now. You let go, and I… I'm gonna have to jump in there after you."

I frowned. As much as this man was angering me, I could not have him dead on my account. "Don't be absurd! You'll be killed!"

He shrugged and bent down to untie his shoe. "I'm a good swimmer."

"The fall alone would kill you," I protested. Surely it would!

"It would hurt, I'm not saying it wouldn't. To tell you the truth, I'm a lot more concerned about that water being so cold." He continued one with removing what would slow him down in water. He pulled his other shoe off now.

That made me think a little bit. I'd hoped that the distance between where I was and the water would make enough impact on my body to kill me, but he'd said that that was wrong. I hadn't counted on the cold. I'd wanted my death to be quick, not slow and probably painful. "How cold?" I asked him hesitantly.

"Freezing," He said, shrugging again. "maybe a couple of degrees over. You ever… uh, you ever been to Wisconsin?"

That threw me off guard. "What?" I asked him incredulously. Now was hardly a time for small talk.

"Well, they have some of the coldest winters around. I grew up there, near Chippewa Falls. I remember when I was a kid. Me and my father… We went ice fishing out on Lake Wissota. Ice fishing is, you know, where you-"

I cut him off. "I know what ice fishing is!" I snarled. How stupid did he think I was?

He put up his hands in defeat. "Sorry," he said carefully. "You just seemed like, you know, kind of an indoor girl." He took a deep breath. "Anyway, I, uh, I fell through some thin ice, and I'm telling you- water that cold, like right down there, it hits you like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body. You can't breathe, you can't think… At least not about anything but the pain!" He paused for a moment to let me take that in. "Which is why I'm not looking forward to jumping in there after you! Like I said, I don't have a choice." He quickly removed his jacket. "I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over the railing there and get me off the hook here."

"You're crazy," I told him, but my resolve was weakened. I knew that now that I had been stopped, I couldn't go through with my plan.

"That's what everybody says, but with all due respect, Miss, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship here." He extended his hand to me. "Come on! Come on, give me your hand. You don't want to do this!"

He was right. There had to be some other way to break free from the restrictions of my life. I put a trembling hand in his, slowly turning to face him.

"Whew," He said, a grin stretching across his features now that he was certain that I wouldn't kill myself. "I'm Jack Dawson."

"Rose DeWitt Bukater," I said softly, a little bit shaken now that I realized how close I'd actually been to death.

He laughed. "I'm gonna have to get you to write that one down," he said, steadying me. I laughed a little bit, too. "Come on," he said.

I put a foot on the rail and put my weight on it. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. I hadn't expected there to be any material on my foot, but there was. With the lack of traction between my foot and the rail combined with my weight, my foot slipped down faster than I could comprehend and before I realized it, I was hurtling toward the dark ocean, taking Jack Dawson with me.

* * *

**A/N-**

**Cough cough... Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What business does she have writing new stories when she hasn't even finished her others yet?**

**My answer is this- this isn't actually a new story. I started this a while ago and have been debating ever since whether or not to post it. I recently decided. My decision... What the heck? Why not?**

**And there you have it.**

**By the way- you know I will love you forever if you review!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

Jack Dawson was certainly right about one thing- it was very, _very_ cold! There was something he was wrong about, though. I was able to think. I was, in fact, thinking about how the ship was leaving us, and nobody aboard knew it. It gave me grim satisfaction to know that Cal and Mother would never find me again. The bad part, however, was that nobody else would, either.

"Swim!" Mr. Dawson commanded me. "It will keep you warmer."

I liked the sound of that, so he swam in one direction and I followed. It worried me that we were going _away _from the ship, though. We were headed back to where the ship came from and all I could see in that direction was water.

The swimming did warm me a little bit, but not enough for any sort of comfort. I was also growing tired, which scared me. If I fell asleep in these waters, I would never wake up again. True, I had originally planned to die here, but Mr. Dawson changed my mind. Now _both_ of us would die here, and there was nothing I could do about it.

We went on swimming for what seemed like hours until we could no longer see the ship behind us. The cold water was weakening me, and I grew more and more weary. I began lagging behind slightly. On top of everything, my heavy dress was weighing me down and I noticed it for the first time.

Mr. Dawson turned to make sure I was still behind him. He paused for a moment, treading water until I could catch up. Then he continued on his way.

"Mr. Dawson!" I yelled some time later, startled to find that my voice was hoarse from the cold. He turned once more to look at me. "How much longer do we have to swim?" I pleaded. I did not know how long we had been in the water, but I knew that I was absolutely exhausted.

Mr. Dawson shrugged. "Well, I was hoping to find a boat or another ship or something that might pick us up. If you don't want to swim any more, though, it's fine by me- but if we freeze to death or drown, it's your fault." His voice was hoarse, too.

I started swimming again in answer, too tired to reply to that. I knew he was guilt-tricking me into going on, but I didn't care. He was right- this _was _my fault.

Mr. Dawson looked frozen ahead of me, but he never looked tired. _Lucky him_, I thought savagely. I didn't like to admit it, but he was stronger than I was.

I wondered about this man, though. I'd seen him only once before tonight, and that was simply in passing. He'd been staring at me from a lower deck. At the time, I'd been slightly offended, but now I wondered if he had seen through my façade. Maybe that was why he came to rescue me tonight.

That line of thought was distracted by a light far in the distance. A ray of hope fell on me, but that was the last thing I remembered…

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

I was on a soft surface, but I couldn't figure out where. Did I die out there in the water? That was probably it, I decided. Did Mr. Dawson die, too? Chances were that he did. What a shame.

I heard, for the first time, voices talking quietly somewhere close to me. Listening closer, I noticed that they were talking about me.

"Yeah, that was when she passed out."

"And you carried her with you?"

There was silence for a split second. I thought that whoever was answering was either nodding or shaking their head.

"Incredible…"

I didn't want to alert them that I was awake, or alive, or whatever they were trying to decide on, but not being able to see what was going on bugged me.

I got my eyes open after a couple of tries and saw four men standing in the corner of a small room. One was Mr. Dawson, but the other three I did not recognize. Glancing down now, I realized that I was on a small cot and I was covered in several blankets.

"She's awake!" Announced one of the men in the corner.

The other three looked back at me in relief. "Good," Mr. Dawson said with satisfaction.

"Where am I?" I asked him.

"You are on the _Darter_, a fishing boat," he said confidently.

I looked questioningly at the other three men. "Oh, I forgot my manners," one of the said three piped up, hitting himself on the forehead. "I'm Will, and this is Andrew and Anthony."

I was a little confused as to who was Andrew and who was Anthony- they were identical. Will noticed my look and laughed. "Oh, that's understandable," he said cheerfully. "They're twins."

I felt just a little stupid. "Oh," I said lamely.

"And, in case you didn't remember from last night, I'm Jack Dawson."

"Yes," I said slowly. "I remember." I paused, trying to figure out how to word what I wanted to say. "And, if what your whispered conversation told me is correct, you saved my life and pulled me from the water. In that case, thank you, Mr. Dawson."

"Jack," he corrected with a smile. "Call me Jack. And, since that _is_ correct, you're welcome."

"He was mighty worried while you were out, Miss," said Anthony- or was in Andrew?

"Well, he had reason to," the other twin added seriously. "We didn't think that you were going to wake up again."

"Jack wasn't in the best of positions, either," Will pointed out. "He just about followed her to unconsciousness."

For some reason, this upset Jack. "But I _didn't_," he said somewhat irritably. That surprised me, because he had been quite happy a moment ago. I shot him a questioning look, but he shrugged it off.

I didn't say anything about it, but I made a mental note to ask later.

"Anyway," said one twin after a moment's awkward silence. I thought it was Andrew. "We're glad you're awake, Miss."

I frowned. "Between the four of you, I've escaped my former life and still lived. There's no need for formalities." I smiled slightly. "Please, call me Rose."

"Rose, then," Will said. "Would you care for any breakfast, perhaps?"

I hadn't realized that I was hungry until he said that, but now that I thought about it, I was ravenous. "Yes, please," I said eagerly.

Will excused himself to fetch some breakfast for me. Andrew and Anthony filed out after him, leaving me alone with Jack. The silence stretched slightly, becoming awkward.

A few seconds later, Will walked back in. A tray was placed on top of my many blankets. Will noticed the billowing silence, glanced at me, glanced at Jack, nodded knowingly, then left. Great.

I looked at my food to escape Jack's scrutinizing gaze. It was all hardtack. That suited me, though- I was hungry enough to eat a horse. I picked up a chunk, trying my best to install the manners Mother had shoved down my throat, but I failed miserably. The hunks of bread were too tough to be dainty with, so I eventually gave up and tore into it. Unfortunately, I could still feel eyes drilling in my head.

There would be a conversation eventually, so I knew, and an awkward one at that. I'd pulled him off the ship of dreams and he'd done nothing wrong. In fact, he'd saved my life. He deserved an explanation, and an apology.


	3. Chapter 3

After I finished eating, I looked up somewhat hesitantly, expecting him to be mad at me.

I was surprised when he grinned at me. "Whoa," he said. "You _were_ hungry, weren't you?"

I blushed, but he laughed. "I'm only joking." He walked closer and sat himself down in a small chair next to me. "So," he said, a little more somberly than before, "how are you feeling?"

I did a mental check. Everything felt fine, and I wasn't even cold anymore. Mother and Cal were streaming away from me and I away from them, and they didn't even know it. "Good," I told him honestly. "Really good."

He smiled again. "I'm glad."

There was silence for a few moments. When it got awkward, I cleared my throat. "Jack, I'm so sorry."

He looked surprised. "Why?"

I gave him a weird look. "I just pulled you off the 'Ship of Dreams' into freezing water and made you swim for your life."

He laughed easily. "Oh, that? I don't really mind. I'd think _you_ would, though, if you hadn't tried to jump off the 'Ship of Dreams' in the first place. Why was that, anyway?"

I sighed. So we'd gotten to this… "My mother, my _fiancée,_ my life, my birdcage." My last word was muttered under my breath, but he heard it anyway.

"Your _what_?" he asked, bemused.

I frowned, searching for the words to describe it. "Have you ever really seen a bird in a cage?"

He nodded.

"Have you ever noticed," I asked, "how sad they are, cooped up and restrained? They're left with no chance to stretch their wings, no way to sing without screaming. They're restrained and imprisoned for no crime in particular."

He nodded again.

"Well, that's how my world is. I'm just as trapped as a little canary, only the iron surrounding me is invisible."

Jack digested this for a moment before he spoke. "And your money can't buy you freedom?"

I laughed without humor. "Money is the very reason I'm caged, Jack. And there aren't many people who know this, but my family doesn't actually _have_ very much money at all. In fact, we're in debt."

"Wow," Jack mumbled.

I giggled. "I think I should be an actress," I said thoughtfully. "I certainly have enough practice. 'Yes, Mother,'" I said, my back ramrod straight and my expression a poker face. "'Of course I want to marry Cal. Yes, Mother, I simply adore that dress you choose to force me into. No, Cal, I cannot stand art and the dangerous ideas it puts into my dainty, obedient head.'"

He laughed and looked at me in slight surprise. "You like art?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "It's like being inside a dream or something. It's frankly much more pleasant to pretend that I live in the world of Monet or Picasso than to face Cal and Mother."

He looked happier after I said that.

There was another moment of silence until the door opened again. Both my head and Jack's turned toward the sound. A short brunette woman who looked three or four years older than me pushed her way in. "Out, you," she said to Jack in a distinctly American accent and pushed him out. He shot me a confused look before the woman snapped the door behind her.

I wasn't quite sure what to say. Her abrupt, brisk manner caught me off guard and I didn't know what to expect.

"How're you feeling?" she asked me suddenly.

"I'm fine, thank you," I said a little uncertainly.

"Good," she said, picking up the empty tray and tucking it over her arm. "You had quite an interesting accident. It wasn't something _I_ would want to try."

I chuckled dryly. "It wasn't _entirely_ on purpose." I wasn't going to tell anyone about my original goal, certainly.

"Of course not," she said, looking at me a little harder. "You don't look like the stupid type."

"Um… Thank you?" I half-asked, half-stated.

She looked surprised. "What?" she asked. "You don't. Looks can be deceiving, though, I suppose…"

I had no comment.

She bustled around for a moment, checking on various things in little cabinets I hadn't previously noticed. Then she spun around, looked at me, hit herself on the forehead with one hand, and started laughing. Once she stopped and took a deep breath, she introduced herself. "I'm Jean, by the way. Sorry I forgot to introduce myself before. I have the _worst_ memory."

I was again surprised by her change in behavior. "I'm Rose."

"Yes," she said, unceremoniously plopping herself onto the floor next to me. "I know."

I nodded, again unsure of what to say.

The third slightly akward pause of the day followed her announcement. Eventually, just to hear some noise, I asked her a question. "Why did you make Jack leave?"

"Oh, him?" she asked unconcernedly. "He annoys me."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. "Why?"

"_He_ strikes me as the stupid type."

I stifled my laughter this time, not wanting to encourage her. I didn't think Jack was stupid at all, actually.

There was a knock on the door and Jean got up. "Well, I had probably better get going, but I'll see you later." She was to the door of the small room before she found something else to say. "Oh, and we'll probably be back to Ireland by tomorrow, where you can see a real doctor." I wondered to myself what I would do when I got to Ireland. I had no money (Cal had it all) and I did not know how to live alone. I came to no easy conclusion.

I nodded and she left. Jack came in with a funny look on his face. "What's _up_ with her? From the first time she saw me, she's glared at me nonstop. What did I do to her?"

I giggled. "Nothing," I said, a smile in my voice. "She just thinks you're the stupid type." He had opened his mouth to speak when I cut him off, adding, "Don't ask."

He thought about this before shutting his mouth and nodding.

* * *

**A/N-**

Hey, look! I'm finally updating my updateable stories! Woot woot! I _think_ this is the last story on my account to be in progress, but it still has a while to go. Just for an update on my future projects- I have actually started working on New York Miracles in Rose's POV, so look forward to that. It will probably be quite a bit longer that Jack's story, because she was awake for a whole lot more time. :)

So, review and I'll give you... a wish! Make a wish (with a review, of course) and I will virtual-grant it! Now, doesn't that sound like fun?

Thank ya thank ya thank ya,

Fan of the Bible


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